


Our Demons

by HighNoon_BlazeIt



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, will add more characters as they come in
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 03:34:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7558525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HighNoon_BlazeIt/pseuds/HighNoon_BlazeIt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“It sorta just feels like I’m only given tips on how to stay calm during those dreams… rather finding ways to stop them.” She released the mug and sat it on the table, staring down into the contents.</p><p>“This sorta thing just takes some time, is all. We all have our demons n’ we all figure out a way to live with ‘em or ignore ‘em. “He pulled his hands into his lap, lacing the fingers together before landing on his chest. If it hadn’t been for the cigar he usually had in his mouth, Mei could picture a piece of hay hanging from his lips in that moment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cryogenic Coffin

**Author's Note:**

> Mei is bae, but so is McCree soooooo????  
> Profit

_Why…?_

_Why was it so cold?_

Everything was too cold and dark. It was Antarctica, she hadn’t forgotten or rather reminded herself; things tended to be cold and dark for an entire month here. But this wasn’t the same kind of darkness or cold. It was empty- as empty as a glacier that’s been hollowed out. It filled the pit of her stomach but didn’t offer any weight.

Then she realized she wasn’t alone. She _remembered_ she wasn’t alone. The others, her teammates and colleagues, they were right next to her. They had gotten out before her. Help has come at last! She fought her grogginess and her now noticeable headache—or maybe it was migraine? Either way, staying in her cocoon of ice and shadows wasn’t a pleasant option.

Slowly but surely she coxed her limbs to twitch back to life, the ice surrounding her veins making the process even worse than it had any right to be.  She heard something; a voice that she didn’t immediately recognize, but hoped she would very soon. Someone touched her carefully around her arms. Immediately someone barked at them—everything seemed to be moving a bit too slow for her. Their words were muddled and the sudden light being shined on her face only helped to disorient her more.

It took another few minutes of slow breathing to finally work up the energy to open her eyes. Even though her eyes were only open a fraction, they could hazily make out her surroundings. She wished she hadn’t. Everything looked decrepit and cracked and exposed. Layers upon layers of ice and snow covered most of the walls as if untouched for decades. Which couldn’t be true, she hadn’t stayed in her cryogenic chamber for that long. At the most, a few months— _at the very most_ \--! Forcing herself to swallow the rising anxiety and vile in her gut, she tried to look at the people that now surrounded her. No one looked familiar. Were they even people, they looked like monsters.  They felt like monsters that found a small easy meal of entertainment.

There aren’t any monsters in Antarctica. There’s penguins, whale seals, and plants, and albatrosses and—and not those. They were nothing more than shadows and bright lights that nearly blinded her. Her anxiety pushed past the vile that was still stumbling about in her throat that started as nothing more than a soft whimper. She wanted to shout—to scream for her teammates. So she did.

No one moved. She could see that their chambers were open, but there was no sound. Almost as if, like the rest of the area, had been abandoned. It sent a sickening and heart stopping chill down her spine. The shadows started to move toward her, this time the gentle touch from before wasn’t there. It was sharp and jerky and could hurt even if she hadn’t still felt numb from the cold. She tried to fight back, balling up her shaky and bluing finger tips into fists, she threw a punch. The shadows only taunted her, laughing and swirling around her when she tried again and again and again, the last of her energy leaving her in a final scream and kick of desperation.

Then she finally saw them. Right below the chambers, where the shadows had moved from her direct eye sight, were _…. Bodies?  What… happened?_ She thought, anxiety had quickly departed, leaving her with the bubbling dread of the worst case scenario. There was no one to hear her screams.

No one left.

She opened her eyes, gasping for breath and trying to sit up right. She felt resistance that immediately sent her into a blind panic. This time she heard voices—she knew those voices! She blinked the tears from her eyes away, or tried to; they were still spilling out onto her cheeks freely.

“Mei—Mei, please calm down! You’re okay, you’re safe!”

The scream in her throat had died down to little more than whimper and sniffle. She felt hands, not claws, on her face, cupping her cheeks and lightly whipping away her tears. The one holding her face, as it turns out to be Angela, continued her comforting ‘shhh’ gestures upon noticing that Mei had finally looked at her and not through her nightmare fueled gaze.

“It was only a dream, Mei.” Angela’s voice was a lot softer and calmer as her hold became gentler.

Mei relaxed from the touch, barely noting that the medic hadn’t been her only visitor tonight. Maybe some of the screaming had carried over from the ‘dream’. A tired Lena stood next to her bed, sporting an overly large sleep shirt and some shorts. She rubbed at her eyes but it didn’t do much to hide her concern.  Briefly, she could even make out a just as tired Zarya and Jesse leaning against the doorframe, both sporting the same look. With a huff, she threw her arm over her eyes, feeling her cheeks burn with that familiar feeling of shame at having woken up her teammates.

“M’sorry,” Came her weak and somewhat strain reply. Her throat was going to feel this in the morning.

“S’okay, love.” Lena yawned as she stretched her back a little. “We just wanna make sure you’re alright.”

Angela patted her shoulder sympathetically, stifling her own yawn successfully. “Do you want some company for the rest of night?” As if expecting a yes, the medic tried to rub the sleep from her own eyes to be more alert.

Slowly, the scientist shook her head, “I’ll be fine. Thank you. All of you for coming.” She lifted her arm to glance about her roomful of teammates and friends. “Sorry again.”

Jesse nodded dumbly, scratching at his head, turning to leave, “Right, see ya’ll in the mornin’.”

Zarya looked back at him, a small exhausted smile on her features, “You do realize the morning is in an hour.”

“Not for me.” He replied with a small chuckle, disappearing out into the halls.

The strong woman only kept the smile on her lips when she regarded the small Chinese woman, almost assessing that she would, in fact, be okay before following the would-be cowboy into the halls for her own room. Lena quickly followed after telling a small joke that coxed a smile from Mei, figuring that as her que to leave.

Angela was the last to depart, promising that she’ll check up on her tomorrow. She guessed Zenyatta would probably be joining them as well. To be fair, Angela is a great doctor, but she didn’t study the healing of the mind as her main point of interest.

Either way, going to back to sleep wasn’t very tempting and staying in bed was even less so. Sweating and crying for what felt like hours tends to do that to you. Musing to herself, Mei got to her feet and made a b-line for the joined bathroom. Making quick work of her shower, though the feeling of _hot_ rather than a cold shower felt amazing to wash away most of the nightmare from her mind.

 _A little self-cleansing can and does go a long way._ She found herself thinking as she checked her digital clock by her nightstand. It read in cool blue numbers ‘4:30am’. Earlier than she’s used to but she’d brave through the early morning with some motivation of getting to work on her technology. Anything to take her mind off of that dream. With that in mind, she grabbed her gear and made her way toward the labs to get started. Being that it was still too early, she was somewhat relieved to be on her own with tech and Snowball. The little drone beeped at its creator, alerting her that it was going back to sleep mode while she worked. It couldn’t be helped, even at half battery, the poor thing would rather be at full than to get started now.

She only patted Snowball before she dove into her tinkering.

One minute she was rewiring her Endothermic Blaster, the next, she felt something warm touching her forehead, causing her to jump from her quick nap. “Wha--?”

“Hey hey, now, no need to get excited.” A thick southern drawl forced her to relax considerably. That voice could only belong to our lone star shooter. The thought brought a small giggle from her before she retook her seat.  Once seated, Jesse joined her at the table and offered her a mug of coffee, something not allowed in the labs for obvious reasons, but she accepted it either way. She thanked him genuinely.

“Ni Hao, Jesse. How are you?” She asked, happily taking a sip from the mug. The warming liquid was already having a calming effect, which had her humming softly.

“I reckon I should be askin’ you that,” He slide his feet onto the table and leaned back into his chair, carefully away from Mei’s equipment.

“Ah, well I’m doing better now. A lot better,” She beamed at him over the mug hoping to convince him.

If it worked, he didn’t show it, he only returned the smile.

“Zenyatta and Angie are goin’ to be happy to see ya in high spirits. They’ve been waiting for ya.” Jesse tilted his head to the side, looking at her.

“Oh… right…” The woman mumbled into her mug. She hadn’t moved it in front of her face and honestly didn’t feel like putting it down just yet.

“Ya don’t seem very happy to go. Why’s that?”

There was a shrug for a moment, and it seemed Jesse was fine with just that as an answer, but Mei couldn’t leave it at that. It felt wrong on some level, but she knew she could take her time telling him. He was never one to rush her or anyone for that matter. She always respected that.

“It sorta just feels like I’m only given tips on how to stay calm during those dreams… rather finding ways to stop them.” She released the mug and sat it on the table, staring down into the contents.

“This sorta thing just takes some time, is all. We all have our demons n’ we all figure out a way to live with ‘em or ignore ‘em. “He pulled his hands into his lap, lacing the fingers together before landing on his chest. If it hadn’t been for the cigar he usually had in his mouth, Mei could picture a piece of hay hanging from his lips in that moment.

“Which did you choose?” She found herself blurting out, chancing a glance at her teammate.

Now it was his turn to shrug, “I found m’demons make great company on those lonely nights.” Short and honest, just as she expected. It brought a small bit of comfort in that moment of being reminded she wasn’t the only one.

 _Misery loves company._ She thought sourly.

“Is there a third option?” It was meant as nothing more than ill-timed joke, but Jesse took the time to really consider it. A little lip moment that would have twirled that imaginary piece of hay.

“Ya could always punch yer demons in the face and tell ‘em to scram. ‘Ain’t got time for this!’,” He laughed at the mental thought of such a short and squishy woman stomping her foot in an attempt to be strict. Damn near adorable. Though, the adorable thought was lost on the woman in question.

“Huh… maybe that could work…” She tapped her fingers on the table in thought. She had fought in her dreams, in her nightmares. Time after time after time, she was only laughed at for even trying. Her face must have showed her defeated feeling because suddenly her vision was obscured abruptly.  Her small hands shot up to touch what had landed on her head as she tried to look at Jesse as well.

It was his hat. It smelled like earth, gunpowder, and tobacco, something she’d definitely call the sharp shooter’s signature scent.  Another small comfort it seems. Once the attention he wanted was finally on him, he continued with a smile.

“Just ‘cause their ya demons, don’t mean ya can’t have backup in yer fight.”

A small smile graced her face as she nodded, tugging the edge of the hat down to hide her eyes. “That extends to you too, you know. Whenever your roommates become too much, okay?”

He almost looked surprised, she would think. He leaned forward, dropping his feet to the floor as he grabbed his hat with his prosthetic and ruffled her hair with his bionic hand. She couldn’t help a laugh at the friendly gesture.

“Even so, ya need to get goin’ to see the doc and Mr. Sunshine.  Their tryin’ to help in their own way, remember?” He winked before getting up from his chair to walk out the door. He paused before the doorframe, “Hurry up, or ya might miss breakfast on top of that. Zarya’s cookin’ this mornin’.” With that he disappeared into the hall for the second time today.

Mei looked down at her still warm cup of coffee, the sweet and bitter taste still on her tongue as she let the conversation wash over her. She did in fact feel much better after it, she decided. She had always felt alone while in her dream, but that wasn’t her reality. She hadn’t been conscious for the time she _was_ alone. Since rejoining Overwatch, she hadn’t felt loneliness or dread or sadness. Of course, that doesn’t mean she hadn’t felt heartbreak over all that she’s missed and all of those she had lost during her slumber, but that was then and this is now.  She still had some of her old friends like Jack, Lena, Winston, Angela, Jesse and so on. She’s even made new ones like Lucio, Zarya, and even those two eccentric New Zealanders. The thought of her having this back up made the last tense muscle finally uncoiled from its bounds and joined the rest of her calm body.

“Beep, boop!” Snowball’s happy chirping brought her out of her train of thought. The drone was hovering around her like a satellite, trying to get her attention. As if knowing about the impeding meeting, more realistically that she hasn’t eaten yet today, it steadily nudged her head.

“Okay, okay, I’m going I’m going.” She laughed before getting up from the chair. She took her time putting her gear back together, didn’t want to risk a malfunction in her hast. With everything nicely and tightly put back into their place, she took the equipment to her room before running off for some good authentic food that was as close to her home as it got from living at this base. And that was fine with her.


	2. Hangin' with the Junkers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Personally, I like the idea of most of Overwatch getting along.  
> ...  
> Most.

The meeting, just like the one before and the one before that one, went… well. Don’t get her wrong, she appreciated their efforts, it meant that they cared and it was nice to be reminded every now and then. But she honestly wasn’t in the mood for a three hour long mediation session right after a pseudo-therapist with the good doctor. Again, they were trying and the climatologist very much appreciated it, but it just didn’t feel like it was helping enough. She shared her thoughts as nicely as she could to the dual medics, hoping they would understand.

Zenyatta seemed to consider her words, probably trying to find a better way of going about her needs. Angela twirled her pen in thought, more than likely doing the same. They concluded their session with the promise to find a compromise. Mei felt a little more relieved upon hearing that. Not only for having some of her free time back, it just felt a little better to not have regular meetings about her dreams. That casual meeting with Jesse even gave her a pep talk on top of the reminder that she’s not alone! It was a comfort that went along with her and maybe one day, she’ll have a chance to make it up to the cowboy in question—

“Oof!” Mei hit the floor butt-first , her glasses escrowed on her small nose. She looked up to see what incredibly soft but firm wall she had accidentally slammed into. Well, _wall_ was an understatement since Roadhog could be more described as a mountain. He was a whole foot taller than her!

“Whoa there, Roadie! I think you almost made someone _roadkill!_ ” Jamison— _Jamie_ bounded around his friend, a good natured grin on his face. “You alright there, snowflake?”

Mei felt her cheeks burn a little as she fixed her glasses and took the hand that Roadhog offered to lift her to her feet. “Sorry, sorry! I’m okay.” She worried her fingers on the edge of her tank top, though she kept her eyes on her new company. Clearing her throat, she looked the masked man in the, well, mask. “Sorry for not paying attention like that, Roadhog.”

He only replied with a short nod and grumble. She assumed it was something close to a ‘It’s fine’, since the shorter man jumped into the conversation.

“Me and Roadie here are headed for a small bit of practicing before lunch. Wanna join?” The man sure could hold a grin that looked like it could split his face. It suited him, she decided.

Though, the thought of sparing with the two never crossed her mind before. Maybe it was because she didn’t have enough missions with the two yet, or maybe their schedules never really crossed enough for them to have a chance, even so…

She was starting to get tired of her own thoughts. A distraction of this magnitude doesn’t roll around her very often. Finally, she looked them both in the eyes.

A smile split her face just the same, “Sure, sounds like fun.”

Jamie, being  a little surprised to have another partner that’s not gonna be his best friend, could only ‘whoop’ loudly, already galloping off to the training area. Mei looked after the excited Australian, unable to stop the giggling from bubbling out her mouth. Roadhog simply sighed as if just standing there was the biggest burdened ever gracing those strong shoulders. Be that as it may, he started to run to catch up, barely noticing that Mei was already taking the lead. She was faster without all of her heavy gear and coats dragging her down, he noted vigilantly.

Once the three made it to the training area, Athena’s voice came online.

“ _Training Initiated. Please choose a level._ ”

Now, if Mei remembered correctly, the levels of training were dictated by objectives, training bots, and settings. The higher the level the more difficult all three of them will be. However, that doesn’t mean they weren’t allowed to customize the settings how they liked. Athena always reset it after every training session, thankfully. The woman was curious as to which the duo usually worked with.

Jamie rubbed his chin, probably pondering which would work better with their new addition, but Roadhog was the first to call out to the patient A.I..

“Level 7 with level 9 terrain.”

Even slightly muffled Athena heard him clearly since she replied with a ‘Please wait’ ,the room was shrouded in a white light. Mei felt that familiar feeling of panic tickling the back of her gut right before the area settled. Forgetting about initial fear, she focused on her surrounds. The background reminded her of an old western film she had watched a few times with Jesse and Hana. That particular memory was the time where Hana tried a southern drawl for the first time. She never forgot how Jesse nearly fell out of seat with tears in his eyes, his laughter in her ears as she refocused on the line up. It felt like real sand underneath her boots, and an actual cool summer breeze blowing through few stray hairs.

_Maybe after lunch I can find somewhere nice outside to read._

Athena summoned the usual training vests that counted for full body armor while in the area. It kept track of fatal and nonfatal injuries that would come from both Training bots and friendly fire. Next up where the training weapons, unique to all Overwatch operatives as to have as real of a fight they could get without accidentally blasting each other through walls.

Grabbing their respective gear and weapons they looked at each other.

“How ‘bout me and Snowflake verses you, Roadie?” Jamie suggested, almost trembling with excitement. He looked back at Mei to confirm his plan was good enough for her.

She nodded, “It sounds fine to me.”

Roadhog shrugged before heading off where he could get his defenses in order.

The lankier of the two faced his new partner in crime. Or so to speak.

“Hope your walls can hold up like the rumors say! We’re goin’ to need it with Roadie.”

“He’s that strong?” She asked, her finger playing with the trigger, hiding her lingering anxiety.

“He’s that _smart_!” He barked out a laugh that almost drowned out of Athena’s thirty second count down, “I’ve been with him enough for him to know what I’m goin’ do before I know it! Though yer gonna be a good challenge for him.”

“You think so?” Looking over to where Roadhog had disappeared behind the buildings. She would hate to disappoint. “Then I think we should make a plan while we have time.” Only having twenty seconds to come up with a plan is going to be tough, but she’s been through tougher situations. She grinned up at Jamie, and he gave it right back.

“I’m all ears!”

-

Roadhog stood in the shadows, his eyes scanning the area. The count ended, giving Jamie and the snow bunny five minutes to take the objective from him. He wasn’t going to make this easy, Jamie knew, he just assumes Jamie told the snow bunny too. Either way, she was going to learn. He gripped his hook firmly in his hand when finally he spotted that familiar blond hair poking up from behind a barely intact wall. He shot out around the corner, his arm in mid hook throw when suddenly his vest started to vibrate; alerting him he was taking damage. He turned around finding Mei emptying that blast gun into one long stream from above. _How had she gotten up there so quietly?_

He growled low, retracting his hook instead of firing at the woman. He knew when he was at the disadvantage. Ducking into a building, he found a staircase that Mei had had to take to reach him so quickly. Taking the stairs, he launched his hook while running, grabbing the woman before she could react. Stunned, she only looked at him briefly with surprise before smiling and pointing down. Confused, he looked down only to discover one of Jamie’s mines were directly underneath his feet. Unable to do anything more than curse to himself for getting sloppy, the mine activating, blowing Mei back and sending Roadhog high into the air.

The vest protected him from any real damage from the blast, but dutifully kept track that he didn’t have a lot of health left.

Not only was he pushed further from the objective, he heard Athena over head, “ _Objective is under attack._ ”

Gritting his teeth, though his smile was unseen, he ran back to the fight. As expected, Jamie was doing an awful job of hiding. He could only assume Mei was nearby to ambush him again. Taking her in account, it would be easier to go around to the opposite end of the building and sweep it out. Though, taking Jamie off the point was the first thing he did with a quick hook pull and shot gun blast to the face. The Australian could only whine as he sat out, though he looked proud. When playing against Roadhog, he never got to the point so quickly.

_Hm._

While Jamie went to the ten second time out, he quickly made it to the building. There were footsteps running back and forth from above, seemingly sporadically. He supposed losing Jamie wasn’t part of the plan. Crouching to make sure he didn’t give her too much of a notice, he climbed the stairs, making sure to mask any creaks with more stealth. It wasn’t easy but he’s done harder things. The mountain of a man drummed his fingers on the grip of his gun, itching to pull the trigger to beat her at her own game. It was one of the few things he took pleasures from. The same feeling could go for a game of chess and the only one here that can give him a challenge was Reinhart.

But he wasn’t fighting Reinhart.

Roadhog let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and charged around the corner, fully intended to finish the job of taking her out—

And she wasn’t there.

Athena continued to show how much more time was needed before point was about to be taken, only a few seconds left. He rushed toward ledge of the balcony that Mei had hopped down at one point. As soon as his feet hit the ground, he heard a beep from the vest alerting him of his ultimate move ready for his used. With an unseen smirk plastered on his face, he shouted, “Get over here!” hooking Mei and yanking her toward him. Immediately he slammed the crank down onto his gun and let it rip nails and bullets into the air, pelting Mei’s vest with ammunition.

Then it stopped. _What the --?_ He looked at the ground, snow and ice covered his shoes and sand. He looked at her just before she threw up a wall. What protection was she trying provide for herself? Anyone could easily go around the damned thing once they could move again. Then he heard it.

“Fire in the hole!”

Just as the last of her blizzard finally disappeared, Roadhog looked up just in time to see Jamie’s Riptire flying right above his head before exploding, effectively finishing off the last bit of health Roadhog had left.

With him officially defeated, Athena announced the winner, “Blue Team wins! The Score is 1 to 0.”

When had they even entered overtime? It didn’t matter either way. It was over, he was bested. He looked down at the woman, tilting his head to the side.

“Good game.”

Before she could respond, Jamie ran off of the balcony, hooting loudly, “What a great game! That was amazin’!” He nearly stumbled from the landing, but Roadhog held him up easily.

Mei simply laughed, though a bit out of breath from the adrenaline in her veins currently. “GG!  I really thought you had us there a few times!” Breathless or not, she sounded almost as excited as the blonde. Almost.

“O’course it’ll take two of us to actually take you down! If it wasn’t for that overtime, we would’ve been toast!”

“Or roadkill?” Mei offered, a very pleased and amused laugh jumped from her throat.

Jamie paused before slapping Roadhog’s arm as he doubled over, “Brilliant!”

The taller of the two couldn’t help but to roll his eyes and shrug off the touch. He’s not really annoyed but too stubborn to show his actually enjoyment.

“So, who teams up now?” She asked as she twirled her blaster in her hand with an almost practiced skill.

“Well…” He didn’t get to finish his thought.

Athena hummed back to life to announce that lunch was being served. The word itself made it seemingly apparent that all three of them had forgotten that one meal can be quickly burned off from trying to attack each other for almost an hour. How long had overtime even lasted? The though hung in the air before deemed unimportant. Lunch was far more interesting since it was Symmetra’s turn to dish out a meal, if she remembered correctly. Her turn was coming up soon.

_I should think of something for dinner…_

Either way, she was pulled from her thoughts as Jamie was talking to Roadhog as he took off his vest and put his weapon back in their places. Scrambling toward them, she did the same before walking out with the three.

The early morning before being nothing more than a forgotten whisper.


End file.
